Arabic 2 Teacher License Test Content: 8 Domains, 25 Standards and Weights
Content of the Arabic 2 teacher license test: the eight domains and weights (syntax 28%, literature 17%, teaching methods 17%), all 25 standards, ETEC's question style, and Arabic 1 vs 2.
- Questions and time
- 88 questions · 120 minutes
- Pass mark
- 50%
- Exam fee
- SAR 100 for the subject test
Start with 10 free questions to find what needs more work. No sign-up, with answer explanations.
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Start with 10 free questions to find what needs more work. No sign-up, with answer explanations.
Try 10 free questions and see your levelLast verified: 30 October 2026. Our sources are the candidate guide for the Teachers' Professional License test in Arabic Language 2 and the Arabic Language 2 teacher standards, both published by the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) (1441 AH / 2020 edition; the latest edition, and the guide is a trial edition). This guide is independent: it is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment), the Ministry of Education or any government body.
In short: the Arabic 2 test covers 25 standards in eight domains. Syntax (nahw) alone is 28% of the questions, and adding the teaching-methods domain (17%) makes 45%. Then literature and criticism 17%, rhetoric 13%, language skills 11%, morphology (sarf) 6%, linguistics 5% and prosody and rhyme 3%.
Arabic 1 and Arabic 2
ETEC offers two separate Arabic tests, each with its own guide and standards. The Arabic 2 standards are for intermediate and secondary school teachers, while Arabic 1 is for primary school teachers. This guide is about Arabic 2, and Arabic 1 has its own content guide on this site.
| Item | Arabic 1 | Arabic 2 (this page) |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | Primary | Intermediate and secondary |
| Domains and standards | 6 domains, 17 standards | 8 domains, 25 standards |
| Syntax and morphology | One domain, 32% | Syntax 28%, morphology 6% |
| Literature | Literature and appreciation 18% | Literature and criticism 17% |
| Rhetoric and prosody | Not separate domains | Rhetoric 13%, prosody and rhyme 3% |
| Teaching methods | 22% | 17% |
The Arabic 1 weights come from Figure 1 and the table on pages 6 and 7 of its guide, and the Arabic 2 weights from pages 6 and 7 of its guide.
Test format
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 88 questions |
| Question type | Multiple choice with four options; each question measures one indicator of one standard |
| Duration | 120 minutes (two hours) |
| Delivery | Paper or computer depending on the subject, shown in your profile |
| Language | Arabic |
| Calculator | Not allowed |
| Scoring | Criterion-referenced; wrong answers carry no penalty |
| Score levels | 50 Practitioner Teacher, 70 Advanced Teacher, 80 and above Expert Teacher (Professional License Regulations, Article 4) |
The eight domains and their weights
These weights come from Figure 1 and the table on pages 6 and 7 of the candidate guide.
| Domain | Official weight | Standards | Questions out of 88 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syntax (Nahw) | 28% | 8 | 25 |
| Morphology (Sarf) | 6% | 1 | 5 |
| Literature and Criticism | 17% | 1 | 15 |
| Rhetoric (Balagha) | 13% | 4 | 11 |
| Prosody and Rhyme | 3% | 1 | 3 |
| Linguistics | 5% | 1 | 4 |
| Language Skills | 11% | 3 | 10 |
| Teaching Arabic | 17% | 6 | 15 |
| Total | 100% | 25 | 88 |
Each question measures one indicator, and the test does not have to cover every indicator.
All 25 standards, one by one
Standard names follow the standards document, and the "What it tests" column is our summary of its indicators. The document writes the numbers like this: 6-2-1 to 6-2-25.
Syntax (Nahw) (28%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.1 | Parts of speech, declension and definiteness | Noun, verb or particle; declinable vs indeclinable; words declined with secondary markers; apparent, positional and assumed declension; definite vs indefinite |
| 6.2.2 | Nominative nouns and their governors | Subject and predicate of the nominal sentence, agent and passive agent, and kana, inna and zanna with their sisters |
| 6.2.3 | Accusative nouns | The object, absolute object, object of purpose, adverbials of time and place, accompaniment object, circumstantial accusative (hal) and specification (tamyiz) |
| 6.2.4 | Genitive nouns | Meanings of prepositions, original and extra prepositions, and the construct (idafa) and its types |
| 6.2.5 | The imperfect verb and its moods | Parsing the imperfect verb in the indicative, subjunctive and jussive, its particles, the implied an (obligatory and optional), and conditional particles |
| 6.2.6 | Followers: adjective, conjunction, apposition, emphasis | The adjective (real and causal), conjunction and the meanings of its particles, apposition (badal) and its types, and emphasis |
| 6.2.7 | Syntactic constructions: exclamation, comparative, numbers, vocative, warning, specification, exception, praise and blame | Exclamation, comparative, numbers, vocative, warning, urging, specification, exception, and praise and blame, with their grammatical rulings |
| 6.2.8 | Sentences and semi-sentences | Sentences that have a grammatical position and those that do not, semi-sentences, ellipsis, fronting and delaying, and the reconstructed verbal noun (masdar mu'awwal) |
Morphology (Sarf) (6%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.9 | Morphological terms and rules of word structure | The morphological scale, root and augmented forms, dual, plural, relative adjectives (nisba) and diminutives, vowel and consonant changes, derived nouns and verbal nouns, and broken plurals |
Literature and Criticism (17%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.10 | Literary eras, genres, schools, figures and criticism | Literary eras, genres, schools and figures, attributing verses and books to their authors, and criticism, its terms and approaches |
Rhetoric (Balagha) (13%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.11 | Eloquence and its defects | The concept of rhetoric and its three sciences (ma'ani, bayan, badi'), eloquent vs rhetorically excellent, and the defects of words and speech |
| 6.2.12 | Figures of speech: majaz, simile, metonymy, metaphor | Majaz mursal and rational majaz and their relations, simile, metonymy and metaphor with their types |
| 6.2.13 | Semantics of constructions ('ilm al-ma'ani) | Statement and non-statement sentences and their rhetorical purposes, types of statement, separation and conjunction, restriction, and brevity, elaboration and equivalence |
| 6.2.14 | Rhetorical embellishments ('ilm al-badi') | Recognising verbal embellishments (such as jinas and saj') and semantic ones (such as tibaq, muqabala and tawriya) in a text |
Prosody and Rhyme (3%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.15 | Prosody terms, scansion and metres | Prosodic writing and scansion, the metres of the common poetic metres, correcting metre errors, and rhyme defects |
Linguistics (5%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.16 | Language: concept, development, sciences, acquisition | The concept and features of language and theories of acquisition, the dictionary, articulation of sounds, word meaning, and coined, Arabicised and borrowed words |
Language Skills (11%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.17 | Listening and speaking | Elements of oral communication, traits of good listeners and speakers, and listening and speaking strategies |
| 6.2.18 | Reading and analysing texts | Types of reading, analysing and evaluating a text, choosing a suitable title, and telling the main idea from the details |
| 6.2.19 | Writing, spelling, punctuation and writing genres | Writing the hamza, ta' and alif, joining and separating words, punctuation, functional and creative writing, and calligraphy styles |
Teaching Arabic (17%)
| Standard | Name | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2.20 | Strategies, activities and aids for teaching Arabic | Aims and approaches of teaching Arabic, stages of child language development, planning, activities and aids, assessment, and learning difficulties |
| 6.2.21 | Teaching grammar and morphology | The deductive and inductive methods, modern strategies for teaching grammar, and students' common errors and how to correct them |
| 6.2.22 | Teaching literary text analysis | Approaches to analysing a literary text, and strategies for teaching it and for appreciating its beauty |
| 6.2.23 | Teaching listening and speaking | Listening and speaking skills at each stage, methods and modern strategies for teaching them, and treating common problems |
| 6.2.24 | Teaching reading skills | Reading skills at each stage, methods of teaching them, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, and treating common problems |
| 6.2.25 | Teaching writing skills | Types of dictation (such as copied-from-view, test and listening dictation), writing skills, genres and teaching methods, and treating common errors |
The style of questions in ETEC's guide
The guide shows ten sample questions with the reasoning behind each answer, then twenty-five practice questions with an answer key that links each question to its standard and indicator. They show the pattern of the test:
- Parsing (i'rab) questions: "In the verse (so they drank from it except a few of them), the exception is…" The answer: complete and positive, so the excepted noun must be accusative. The same goes for the status of akhuka in "sara akhuka batalan" (the noun of sara) and for yaf'alan (indicative, marked by the retained nun).
- Telling similar options apart: which categories are all indeclinable? The explanation shows how a single word breaks each wrong option, such as hadhan and alladhan, which are declinable.
- Morphology and relative adjectives: the relative adjective of Hanifa, Qurayza and Madina is hanafi, qurazi and madani, and scale questions such as qul on the pattern ful.
- Literature and rhetoric: defining epic poetry, naming pre-Islamic poets, the opening line of Imru' al-Qays's mu'allaqa, the relation in the majaz mursal of "freeing a neck", defining the science of bayan, and the purpose of the command in "do as you will".
- Prosody: the metre of al-Tawil, fa'ulun mafa'ilun fa'ulun mafa'ilun.
- Teaching questions: the middle childhood stage from 6 to 8 years, and which kind of dictation is the one where the text is read, discussed, spelled out and then dictated (listening dictation).
ETEC itself notes that the guide's examples do not cover every aspect of the test and do not reflect how easy or hard the real questions are.
How to use this table when you study
- Start with the free questions to see which domains are weakest for you.
- Order your time by weight: syntax first, then literature and teaching methods, then rhetoric. The eight-week plan is built on these weights.
- Do not neglect the small domains. Morphology, linguistics, and prosody and rhyme together are 14% of the questions (roughly 12).
- Parse every grammar example yourself before reading the explanation of the options, because the test asks for the ruling, not the bare rule.
Your score on our questions is an estimate of readiness, not an official result. Each unit in unit practice is one of these eight domains, so if the free questions show a weakness in grammar or prosody, you can practise that domain on its own.
Finished reading? Try a set of questions
Start with 10 free questions to find your weakest units. Keep practising with the full question bank and mock exams from SAR 26.
Sources and references
- ETEC – Professional License Test for Educational Professions (dates, scoring, FAQ and e-services) etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Candidate guide for Arabic Language 2 teachers (2020 trial edition): domains, weights and sample questions media.etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Subject standards for Arabic Language 2 teachers (1441 AH / 2020) media.etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Candidate guide for Arabic Language 1 teachers (2020 trial edition) media.etec.gov.sa
- ETEC – Subject standards for Arabic Language 1 teachers (1441 AH / 2020) media.etec.gov.sa